1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system and a method for producing a tissue-engineered material, more particularly to a system and a method for producing a tissue-engineered material in a living subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
In clinical practice, many patients with atherosclerosis or chronic kidney disease may encounter situations that need replacement/transplantation of natural, artificial or tissue-engineered blood vessels. The natural origins may be autografts, decellularize-processed allografts or xenografts, and the artificial materials may be made of synthetic non-biodegradable materials including polyester, polypropylene, and expandable-PTFE, or made of biodegradable materials including polyglycolic acid (PGA) and poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA).
However, allografts and xenografts are rejected by the immune systems of the recipients, thus need thorough decellularization and other processes, resulting in increased risks of the exposure to foreign proteins and process-related chemicals. Meanwhile, the artificial materials often cause foreign body related chronic inflammation and need further treatments and processes to achieve a long-term patency.
In recent years, with the breakthroughs in the tissue-engineering field, many researchers have started investigating the methods for growing autologous cells/tissues outside the human body (in vitro) that are capable of being transplanted directly to the patients. It has been acknowledged that mechanical properties of the tissue cultured in vitro can be dramatically enhanced by applying a periodic mechanical stimulation to it. However, the in vitro cultured tissues are not always durable enough to meet the mechanical strength requirements; bioreactors that are used to grow the in vitro autologous tissues cannot completely mimic the environment in vivo, and additives (such as bovine serum) during the culture session might cause adverse consequences.